Any reviews of the Hermitage in Amsterdam? About how long will a leisurely stroll through the exhibits take?

We were there in October and very much enjoyed the museum. We took our time, but don't think we were there more than 2 hours. The nearby Dutch Resistance Museum (wonderful) and the small, lovely botanical gardens were all done in the same day.

kay

I was recently at the Amsterdam branch of the Hermitage - in a sweet old building on a cute canal- and as a non-art aficiando i was out in an hour - smallish collection. But it is valid with the Netherlands National Museum Card - which i had - as is the Dutch Resistance Museum (which i do not remember being near the Hermitage but i may be wrong)and i echo Kay's praise of it - lots of photos from the German Occupation and its awful treatment of some Amterdammers.

The National Museum Kaart is a no-brainer for anyone going to the Rijksmuseum, Van Gogh and museums like these - the card costs about 39 euros and is good for one year for unlimited etnry to national museums (and non-public ones as well - like the unique Lord in the Attic one) - at the Van Gogh i even skipped the ticket line and just showed the pass at the entry gate.

Anyway major museums cost about 12-14 euros a crack so three museums is a break even and if you go to Amsterdam's many many neat but lesser known museums you will save tons of money. And to me i went in some museums only because the card covered it - i never would have paid say 10 euro for something i was vaguely interested in but once inside was plesantly surprised.

The Troppen Museum to me is one of my very favroite Dutch Museums - life in tropical countries wonderfully presented. Started as the Dutch Colonial Museum with stuff from Dutch colonies- all in tropical countries.

And if going to the Mauritshuis in Den Hague or the Frans Hal Museum in Haarlem or the Zaanse Museum in Zannase Schanse then the pass covers all them too.

I went to the Hermitage in June when it first opened in its new building (we were living not too far from there at the time). I have to admit that while I mildly enjoyed it, I was a little underwhelmed. And if I was underwhelmed when I rode my bike right past it every day - so it took no real effort to get to - I remember thinking that I would have been even more underwhelmed if I was on a short trip to Amsterdam and took time out to visit it instead of seeing other sights.

It's in a pretty building on the Amstel river, but the exhibits consist mostly of mannequins (male and female) dressed in court clothes, plus a few rather mediocre pictures, and some silver objects. Google the museum and read the reviews - they're fairly negative.

Unless you have a special interest in the items in the museum, I think there are many other things to do in Amsterdam that would take priority.

I'd like to point out that the exhibition is not a fixed one - the exhibits change from time to time since the idea is to display more of the vast Hermitage collection.
It attracted 650,00 visitors in it's first 5 months - which on an annual basis would put it above the van Gogh.
I haven't been, yet. Sometime I'll spend a day in Amsterdam and go there too.

Yeah hetimij - I was really looking forward to it and was glad it opened before we left. But as I said I was sort of disappointed in it. I wonder if all those visitors are people like me - they went (it was marketed quite heavily), but did they like it? I never went back after the first time, and as I said I rode my bike past it every day and with my museum card it was free, as I recall. So there would have been not much cost, in either time or money, to go again, but I never felt it was worth even the stop. I googled it before I made my post above and came across quite a lot of reviews much more negative than I felt. I didn't think it was that bad - just not that good either. To me it would just be the "opportunity cost" of spending time there on a short visit vs. doing something else. But your (and everyone else's) mileage may vary, as they say.